Road leveler



Jan. 19, 1937. M, E PETERSON `2,068,433

ROAD LEVELER Filed Deo. 51, 1934 Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a device which can beassociated with other well known road leveling machinery and toc'ooperate therewith.

Another object of my invention is. to provide an arrangement of thischaracter which can be conveniently manipulated to a desired angle orwhich can be elevated at will.

Another object of my invention is to provide the above mentioned objectsin a construction of the greatest possible simplicity, and which can bemanufactured at a very reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of mydevice, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinaftermore fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing', in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a partial view of la road grader takenat the front part thereof and showing my device attached thereto,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view taken approximately along the lines2 2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a front View of the device in elevation taken along thelines 3--3 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 3.

Many road surfaces, such as hard gumbo or more particularly gravel, intime develop small raised mounds, which by successive travel over ofvarious vehicles become extremely hard and difcult of removal.

The ordinary type of road leveler which includes the usual scarier orgrader blade cannot eiiiciently cut down these hardened bumps, since theaction is directed forwardly in the direction of travel of the tractoror leveler itself, and the usual tendency is for the entire tractor toraise over these mounds.

The principal objective contemplated in my invention is to apply aslicing action transversely against the mounds, such action beingdirected (Cl. 37--145l approximately at right angles to the path oftravel of the entire road grader.

To attain this end, I provide the member I0 which is a hardened steelscrew having the cutting edges II, which edges follow the outer contourof the member I0 in a continuous spiral. The member I0 is driven bymeans of the gear I2 which is pinned rigidly to the shaft I3, whichshaft is a continuation of the member Ill. The gear I2, which is thebeveledtype, is driven by the other gears I4 which are secured to theshaft I5. The upper gear I4 is driven by means of the beveled gear I5which is driven by means of the shaft II, to which is attached the otherbeveled gear I8, which in turn is driven by the horizontal beveled gearI9. The entire arrangement of gears is supported by means of the bracket20 which terminates in the round plate 2I.

Attached to the round plate 2l is the other round plate 22 which is.attached to the upright frame 23 which has the vertical slots 24. Theframe 23 is secured to the cross-beam 25 by means of the bolts 26 whichare received within the slots 24. The cross member 25 is securelyattached in any usual manner to the chassis 21 of the road grader, whichgrader, of course, includes the usual front wheels 28. Other details ofthe grader itself and the like need not be elaborated on herein, sincethey do not comprise an important part of my invention.

The cross-beam 25 includes the square member 29 which receives thebeveled gear 30. The beveled gear 30 receives the shaft 3| which isattached to the beveled gear I9 at the extremity thereof. The shaft 3Iis a spline shaft, a section of which is shown in detail in Figur 4.This shaft includes the projections 32 whi h are received within thecavities of similar shape of the hub of the gear 30. The splinearrangement is used to allow the frame 23 to be raised to the dottedposition 33 as shown in Figure 3, and yet retaining the gear 30 in itsplace between the horizontal members of the member 29. In this way theentire member I0 can be lifted off the road bed when not in use, and themember I0 will take the position as shown in the dotted lines in Figure3 when so raised. The spline arrangement permits of constant driving,and yet incorporates the feature of vertical lifting of the entire lowerframe. 4

The slots 24 in the frame 23 permit the device to be lifted and thensecurely bolted by means of the bolts 26. Likewise, when the device isin cutting position, the bolts are again used so that the maximum weightwill be placed on the member I during the cutting operation.

The framework can be lifted by means. of the gears 34 and 35 if such isdesired, which gears are journalled in the members 36.

The cutting screw l0 can be pivoted in case it is desired to place thesame as shown in the dotted lines in Figure 2 in order to secure acertain desired cutting effect. To accomplish this pivoting, the lowercircular plate 2l is turned after the bolts 31 are removed from theopenings 38 (see Figure 2). These openings, of course, pass through bothplates, and afterY the device isset in desired position, the bolts areplaced into the openings, and the two frames 23 and 20 are rigidlybolted together.

The gear 36 can be driven by the other gears 39, Gil, and 4|. It willnow be clearly pointed out that the essence o-f my invention is theprinciple of the screw shaped member IIJ having the spiral cutting,edges I l, cutting transversely on the road bed, and it will be alsounderstood that the mechanism heretofore described is merely one ofthose arrangements which may be used, and other arrangements such aschain drives and the like could also be used to drive the mechanism inthe manner intended. Any driving mechanism which will drive the screwmember with sufficient force will be satisfactory for the purpose.

It will be understood that as the vehicle travels forwardly that thescrew l0 will travel at a fairly high rate of speed in order to properlylevel the road bed at the necessary rate. The power applied to the screwmust also be suflicient to slice off the various mounds and the like.

For instance, in Figure l the device is traveling forwardly, and it willbe noted that the bumps in the rear of the member I0 have already beencut away, and those in front are just about to undergo this operation. Y

The cutting edges Il of the screw I0 will slice against the raisedmounds sideways, and will rapidly carry the earth or gravel to one side,or will tend to distribute the same evenly.

The frame 4I, which carries the tines 42, can be used forwardly of themember l0 in order to clear away large pebbles or rocks which may be infront of the same, and the leveling blade 43 can be positionedrearwardly of the member l0 to level the earth or gravel after it iscut.

The device can be powered from any convenient source, such as a tractoror else can be powered directly from a motor mounted on the graderitself.

It will now be seen that I have provided a road leveling device whichpositively and eftlciently cuts away eXtra hardened mounds on the roadbed.

It will be seen further that I have provided means for accomplishingthis result in a mechanism which can be raised out of working positionor can be disposed angularly with respect to the transverse line of theroad bed.

It will be seen further that I have associated this device in aconstruction of simplicity, which can be conveniently attached to astandard road grader, and which can be used in conjunction with otherroad grader devices.

It will also be seen that the device can be Y manufactured at a veryreasonable cost.

Some changes may be made in the contruction Vand arrangement of theparts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purposeof my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims anymodiiied forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which 'maybe reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

l. In combination with a road leveler, a rigid cylindrical cuttingmember having a spirally formed, continuous cutting edge, the weight ofsaid road grader adapted to be supported by said cutting member, saidcutting member being of substantially rigid construction tocausepositive side cutting action on a road bed, a leveling blade positionedrearwardly of said cutting member, means for pivotally positioning thecutter, comprising an upper frame including an upper circular bearingplate, a lower frame including a bearing plate secured to said upperbearing plate', said cutter being rotatably mounted on said lowerfram'e. Y 4

2. In combination with a road leveler, a. rigid cylindrical cuttingmember having a spirally formed, continuous cutting edge, the Weight ofsaid road grader adapted to be supported by said cutting member, saidcutting member being of substantially rigid construction to causepositive side cutting action on a road bed, a leveling blade positionedrearwardly of said cutting member, means for pivotally positioning thecutter, comprising an upper frame including an upper circular bearingplate, a lower frame including a bearing plate secured to said upperbearing plate, said cutter' being rotatably mounted on said lower frame,said upper frame including slotted means forv allowing vertical raisingof the frames and the cutter.

MARIA E. PETERSON.

